May 29, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Angel City FC News Release
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – Today Angel City Football Club (ACFC) lost 0-1 at home in an exciting rivalry match against NJ/NY Gotham FC. Gotham forward Ifeoma Onumonu had the game’s only goal, in the 57th minute.
Angel City had an excellent scoring chance early on, when in the second minute, forward Tyler Lussi crossed the ball to forward Christen Press inside the six-yard box. Press was one-on-one with Gotham keeper Ashlyn Harris, but sent her shot to the far post wide.
LA had another near miss in the 28th minute, when Lussi crossed the ball to Press, who put a looping header on target, but it was parried out for a corner kick.
The rest of the first half was fairly slow, without many quality chances on either side. Gotham largely looked to send the ball over the top and beat ACFC’s back line with their speed in behind, but ACFC made some strong defensive plays to limit them to low-quality chances.
Gotham notched the game’s only goal in the 57th minute, when defender Caprice Dydasco found Onumonu to the right of the penalty area. Onumonu sent a powerful strike to the near post to beat Angel City keeper DiDi Haračić and put her team ahead.
After the goal, Angel City ratcheted up the intensity and successively found more chances on goal as the half went on. They had a very near miss in the 80th minute, when midfielder Savannah McCaskill found Press in the box. Press sent a hard strike to the far post, which Gotham keeper Ashlyn Harris blocked. The ball ricocheted out of her hands and fell to forward Jun Endo, who also put a shot on target, but it was cleared off the line by a Gotham defender.
The final 10 minutes of the game were chaotic, with Angel City spending much of their time inside Gotham’s 18. They tallied seven more shots before the final whistle, frequently capitalizing on missed clearances to shoot and pick up corner kicks, but failing to find the back of the net.
Despite the…